In the mobile communications system, since a reverse link signal transmitted from a mobile station is affected by distance attenuation, shadowing, fading or the like, the level of the signal received by a base station sharply fluctuates. In the CDMA communications, however, it is of critical importance for the received signal level to be kept constant, and hence the mobile station carries out power transmission control so that the received signal level of the base station is kept constant.
As the power transmission control method, two methods are widely known: an open loop control method and a closed loop control method. The open loop control method is a technique in which a mobile station receives a forward link signal transmitted from a base station, and sets the transmission level of a reverse link signal in response to the received level of the forward link signal. Although it can be implemented with ease, large control errors will result if the correlation between the reverse link signal and the forward link signal is small. In contrast, the closed loop control is a technique in which the base station receives the reverse link signal transmitted by the mobile station, makes a decision whether its received level is higher or lower than a reference value by comparing them, and commands the mobile station to change the transmission level using the forward link signal. Although this method can reduce the control errors in the steady state, the mobile station may continue to transmit with large control error before entering the steady state.
In conventional CDMA mobile communications systems, although the closed loop control method is used in conjunction with the open loop control method, the reverse link signal undergoes only the open loop power transmission control at the beginning of the communications. This will result in large control error, which in turn can cause undue interference to message signals of other mobile stations. Thus, the IS-95 system according to the EIA/TIA standard in the United States sets the transmission power of the initial reverse link signal of the mobile station at a low level to avoid the foregoing problem. If the base station cannot receive the reverse link signal, and hence no channel can be established, the mobile station retransmits the initial signal with increasing the transmission power step by step until the channel is established. Although this method has little possibility to cause the undue interference, it takes a long time until the channel has been established.
In short, a signal transmission method in the CDMA mobile communications has not yet been conceived which can establish the channel in a short delay time without transmitting at unduly large transmission power.